User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Peter66
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: April 13, 2008

Bottom Line:

As claimed, this is a true audiophile product. From the moment you take it out of the box and think by the weight you're handling a medium-powered integrated amp. The sheer looks, the feel of the buttons and volume-pot: it all oozes class! Operating in Class A, it consumes 25 Watt continuously (!) and therefore doesn't require -as the power amp does- a warm-up period. It has a "rightness" and naturalness combined with sense of detail that has to be heard to be believed. It outperformes my previous Accuphase C11 by a large margin: wider and deeper soundstage, more fine detail and slam without ever sounding tiring. Not reminiscent of a top-class tube pre-amp, it gives you a "Are you singing just for me?" listening-experience, but with a lower noise-level (inky-black background) and without the excessive warmth (also literally!) and the burden of having to replace the -often costly- tubes every couple of years. Anyone looking for a top-class preamp without frills and who's willing to live with the quirky control-menu needn't look any furher...